Hyatt Partners With Sonifi To Update Room Entertainment With Streaming Service

What Happened
Hyatt is updating its in-room entertainment choices by offering hotel guests access to a number of OTT streaming services. Partnering with Sonifi, an L.A.-based interactive content and connectivity solutions provider, the global hotel chain will let guests access popular streaming services like Netflix and Hulu for free through the World of Hyatt app and a Chromecast device. Fourteen Hyatt hotels are already equipped with the new streaming capability, and the company says it has plans for a broader rollout.

What Brands Need To Do
This is the latest example of a hospitality brand aiming to modernize their guest experiences with over-the-top streaming services. Previous examples include JetBlue Airlines, which has been providing its passengers with free Amazon Prime Video streaming for in-flight entertainment since late 2015.

While Hyatt is appealable for recognizing the growing popularity of streaming services and shifting viewer behaviors, it fails just short of providing a truly personalized experience for the guests. According to the press release, there is no need for the guests to enter a code or personal credentials on the TV to access the streaming services, which eliminates the hassle of signing in and preempts any privacy concern guests may have. 

 


Source: Sonifi (press release)

 

How Hyatt Leverages Snapchat Spectacles For Branded Content From Employee POVs

What Happened
Hyatt becomes the latest brand to embrace Spectacles, the camera-equipped connected sunglasses from Snap Inc., for creating marketing content. As part of its global campaign “World of Hyatt,” the international hotel chain has given away eight pairs of Spectacles to employees at different hotel locations around the world to produce branded video content from their unique POVs. The content they produce will be shared internally as well on Hyatt’s social media channels selectively.

What Brands Need To Do
Previously, Toyota and L’Oreal have also tapped Spectacles to produce branded content. Hyatt’s approach differs from those two brands, which both handed the Spectacles over to social influencers at their respective events, in that it has a broader, international perspective and focuses on capturing the normal, day-to-day happenings at Hyatt properties around the world. Spectacles are great at capturing the kind of candid, off-the-cuff moments, in a circular format that is especially suited for Snapchat but can also be posted to other social channels. Brands wishing to add more authenticity to their branded content and enrich their Snapchat video content should consider using Spectacles.  

Beyond content creation, the popularization of Spectacles also signals that we are approaching an age where cameras are increasingly becoming one of the primary input sources of our digital life. Beyond Snapchat, Mastercard is now allowing app users in Europe to authenticate their payments with a selfie, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority recently launched a digital campaign that uses facial recognition technology to create personalized travel recommendations and offer tailored travel packages. As these examples indicate, the surging prominence of visual input is set to bring a new set of opportunities and challenges that brands will need to learn to navigate in order to adapt to the shifting consumer behaviors.

 


Source: Business Wire

Header image courtesy of Hyatt’s YouTube

How Hyatt Hotels Is Using Facebook Messenger For Customer Service

What Happened
Facebook introduced Messenger for Business at its F8 conference in March to facilitate communication between customers and businesses. Now, Hyatt Hotels is one of the first brands to start using it. The international hotel chain now employs of a team of 60 across three global locations to help guests with their customer service needs via various social channels, including Messenger. Besides real-time conversations with its customers, Hyatt is looking to securely share transaction receipts and booking details via Messenger in the future.

What Brands Need To Do
By moving its customer service to a text-based platform like Facebook Messenger, Hyatt makes it easier for customers to reach out and start conversations. Moreover, it also gives Hyatt a voice – a personality, even – that resides inside the Facebook ecosystem and adds accountability to its customer service. As texting and messaging apps take over phone calls as the primary means of modern communication for a growing population segment, brands need to adapt to the changing consumer behavior and start to use messaging apps, such as Messenger, as a tool.

 


Source: Digiday